New schemes to boost HK film industry

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong Film Development Council announced Monday new initiatives to help the city's film industry groom talent and tap the Cantonese market in neighboring province of Guangdong.

A scheme introduced this month would help lift a quota and allow for the synchronized release of Hong Kong films' Cantonese versions in Guangdong province as imported films with a maximum 25 percent share of box-office takings, said the council in a statement.

Another initiative aimed at funding the distribution and publicity costs of Hong Kong films distributed in Guangdong province on an accountable and reimbursable basis, up to a maximum HK$250,000 ($32,216) sponsorship for each film.

The council will also raise the upper limits of government contribution under the Film Development Fund Scheme for Financing Film Production.

The upper limit of government finance for a film co-produced by an up-and-coming director partnering with an experienced producer, and with an estimated budget not exceeding HK$10 million, will rise to HK$4 million.

Statistics showed nine applications were received under the financing scheme for the first half of this year while only five received during the same period in 2011 and three in 2010's first half.

It demonstrated that the Film Development Fund was becoming an important channel for film financing, said Jack So, chairman of the council, in a news briefing held in the day.

So also expected about 60 movies to be produced in Hong Kong this year. For the first half of 2012, there were 31 film productions in Hong Kong, of which 19 were local films and 12 Hong Kong-Mainland film coproductions.